Torrington City Council approves streetscape improvements on Main Street

Main Street between Maiden Lane and Mason Street on Wednesday, July 31. The area will be the first to undergoe improvements under the Main Street realignment project that has been in planning stages since the fall of 2012. (Esteban L. Hernandez-Register Citizen)

TORRINGTON >>The City Council approved a contract of $182,629.50 for Main Street realignment and streetscape improvements during a special and telephonic meeting in Mayor Ryan Bingham's office on Wednesday.

If the construction begins before the end of the month, as planned, it will force the weekly Main Street Marketplace by forcing it to shift down a few blocks, according to previous comments by Economic Development Director Rose Ponte. Main Street Marketplace will continue each Thursday through Aug. 29.

On Monday, City Engineer Edward Fabbri sent a memo to Bingham recommending that City Council authorize the mayor to award the contract to Martin Laviero Contractor, Inc., which is based in Bristol. The meeting approved the recommendations and gave the mayor the ability to act on behalf of the city to execute the contracts. Council members approved the contract unanimously.

"This is a long time coming," Bingham said during the meeting. "Certainly a step in the right direction of our Main Street streetscape program. We still have a lot more to do."

Advertisement

The bid calls for improvements to a strip of Main Street from Maiden Lane to Mason Street, Bingham said after the meeting. He said the city is in constant communication with the state Department of Transportation, speaking to them multiple times a week to make sure the project is realized.

Fabbri said that improvements will include installing new trees, new lighting, sidewalks and curb repairs. He said the improvements will include a decorative strip that will feature a pattern created with red bricks.

The improvements are part of a larger, multi-phase project for Main Street realignment that has been in planning stages since the fall of 2012. The approved contract will fund phase one of the project.

Fabbri said the contractor was chosen because he was pleased with some of the company's previous work.

"We are pleased to be at this point and move forward," Fabbri said.

He added that the contractor wanted to start work on the project the Tuesday after Labor Day, but that Fabbri is attempting to move the starting date up so it won't conflict with other sidewalk projects in the vicinity and the contractor's potential building schedule.

Fabbri is trying to have the project start in late August to avoid colder weather in October and November, and is also trying to ensure businesses along the street are interrupted as little as possible. The improvements could take up to three months to complete.

"It could take up to 90 days, somewhere in that range, at the most" Fabbri said about the length of construction. "At this point, it depends on weather. Weather is my main concern. Some years we have had snow in October, so that's what I'm trying to stay away from."

Laviero Contractor was the company responsible for the construction of the West Street sidewalk project in Litchfield in 2009.